Apr 17, 2017

The Nifty is
likely to start on a flat note on Monday, tracking muted handover from Wall
Street. The index closed below its crucial resistance level of 9,200 and its
5-days exponential moving average (DEMA), 10-DEMA, 13-(DEMA), and 20-DEMA.

Geopolitical tensions, along with Q4FY17 earnings, will
continue weight its impact on the market sentiments this week. During the week,
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will declare its numbers on Tuesday, while
IndusInd Bank and Yes Bank will announce March 2017 quarter results on
Wednesday.

Hindustan Zinc and MindTree will announce March quarter
earnings on Thursday. Cement major ACC and private sector banking major HDFC
Bank are scheduled to release Q4 results on Friday.

Here are top cues from domestic and international
markets, which could have a bearing on D-Street.

Finance Ministry
nod to to 8.65% interest on EPF

The Finance Ministry is believed to have permitted the
Labour Ministry to go ahead with 8.65 percent rate of interest on employees'
provident fund for 2016-17, which will benefit over four crore EPFO members.

The finance ministry in its communication to the labour
ministry has, however, put a rider that the interest rate should not result in
a deficit for the retirement fund. This will enable the Labour Ministry to
provide 8.65 percent rate as decided by the Employees' Provident Fund
Organisation (EPFO) trustees.

SEBI set to block
P-Note route for NRIs

The regulator plans to put in place a clear bar on
non-resident Indians (NRIs) and entities owned by them and resident Indians
subscribing to participatory notes, a move aimed at preventing possible
round-tripping or laundering of black money, said a report.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is set
to tweak its regulations to this effect at its upcoming board meeting on April
26 after the finance ministry recently wrote to the regulator.

Wall Street ends
lower

US stocks ended lower for a third straight day as
investors weighed earnings reports from big US banks along with geopolitical
tensions. Investors have turned to safe-haven assets like gold throughout the
week due to geopolitical tensions and news of a massive bomb being dropped by
the United States in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday added to uncertainty.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 138.61 points, or
0.67 percent, to 20,453.25, the S&P 500 lost 15.98 points, or 0.68 percent,
to 2,328.95 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 31.01 points, or 0.53 percent, to
5,805.15.

SGX Nifty

The Nifty futures on the Singapore Stock Exchange were
trading 5 points lower at 9,150 indicating a flat opening for the domestic
market.

US
Dollar falls

The US dollar fell Friday following remarks by US
President Donald Trump that the currency was getting too strong and he would
prefer the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates low.

The dollar shed 1.75 percent against the yen this week,
its fourth week lower in five, as a rise in tensions in Asia and Europe
prompted buying of the safe-haven Japanese currency, it said.

North Korean
ballistic missile launch fails

North Korea has failed to launch a missile on its east
coast, South Korean and US military officials say, a day after Pyongyang warned
the US amid rising tension in the region, said a report.

The US said a ballistic missile exploded within seconds
of the launch. Hours earlier, North Korea paraded what appeared to be
long-range ballistic missiles at a major military display, it said.

China says a war
on Korean Peninsula will be devastating

China warned that a war on the Korean Peninsula would
have devastating consequences as the US threatened military retaliation against
North Korea if it proceeds with a nuclear test this weekend, said a Bloomberg
report.

A spokesman for North Korea’s military warned Friday that
“the Trump administration’s serious military hysteria has reached a dangerous
phase which can no longer be overlooked.”

Petrol &
Diesel prices up

The price of petrol was tonight hiked by Rs 1.39 per
litre and diesel by Rs 1.04 a litre in sync with firming international rates.
The actual increase in price will be more after taking into account local VAT.
Petrol in Delhi currently costs Rs 66.29 a litre while a litre of diesel is
priced at Rs 55.61.

Centre, states
taxmen to decide services rate in GST this week

Tax officials of the central and state governments will
this week hold their maiden meeting on devising a formula for tax rate to be
levied on services under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime from July 1.

While the GST Council had previously decided on a four-
tier rate structure of 5, 12, 18 and 28 percent, its fitment committee will
hold its first meeting this week on slotting different services in one of the
slabs, a senior official told PTI.

Reliance Power,
DCB Bank, RIIL in focus

Shares of Reliance Power will be in focus after the
company reported a 250 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 215.90
crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2017, against Rs 61.55 crore in
the corresponding quarter last year.

Reliance Infrastructure Ltd on Saturday reported a net
profit of Rs40.94 crore for the quarter ended 31 March. The company had
recorded a consolidated net loss of Rs327.41 crore during the January-March
quarter in 2015-16.

DCB Bank Ltd reported 24 percent drop in net profit for
the fourth quarter on higher provisioning and higher tax expense. The net
profit for the quarter was Rs 52.86 crore as compared to Rs 69.53 crore a year
ago.

Rupee rebounds 26
paise to 64.41/USD

The rupee staged a smart rebound on Thursday and closed
26 paise higher at 64.41 against the US dollar on account of fresh selling of
the American currency by exporters. The rupee opened higher at 64.45 as against
yesterday's closing level of 64.67 per dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange
market.

Gold near 5-month
high

Gold on Friday hovered near the 5-month high hit in the
previous session and was set for its biggest weekly percentage rise since June
as a weaker dollar and geopolitical worries over the Middle East and North
Korea stoked safe-haven demand, said a report.

Spot gold was down 0.1 per cent at $1,286.25 per ounce by
0820 GMT in thin trade due to a public holiday in many countries. Bullion
prices hit their highest since early November at $1,288.64 an ounce the session
before, it said.

Sebi wants
stricter monitoring of IPO proceeds

To check any misuse of funds raised through IPOs,
regulator Sebi plans to make it mandatory for all companies to appoint a
monitoring agency to keep a tab on the use of the capital raised through a
share sale.

Suspecting misuse of funds raised through smaller share
sales of up to Rs 500 crore, the regulator is now mulling making it mandatory
for all the companies to get the use of their IPO proceeds monitored,
irrespective of the offer size, sources said.